FOOD COURT ONLY REVIEW:
Since we were in standstill traffic on the Merritt Parkway, I started googlemapping lunch locations suitable for Vegan Mom, and the kids. I found a Panera located at the Westfield Trumbull Mall, in Trumbull, CT and we decided to stop for lunch, on the way to Six Flags New England.
We visited the food court on a Saturday afternoon, late summer; the mall itself was very crowded. We had to park very far away from the entrance.
The mall is absolutely gorgeous, quite modern; but we headed straight to the food court. The food court is also recently updated, sleek and open plan. Our 1o year old daughter wanted Subway, which is such a waste when we spend $5 for bread, some ham and cheese (she doesn't like any toppings). Our 7 year old ASD son was rambunctious, running all over the food court. This didn't present a significant problem, because most of the area is open plan and there are great sight lines for observing people at a distance. Better yet, at one corner, close to the exterior entrance, is a child's play area. It consists of a $3 carousel (overpriced as it was very small).
Finally our son settled on chicken nuggets, and I saw the menu at Stewart's offered chicken tenders and veggie burgers, and the line was relatively short, so I decided to take my chances there. Altogether the kids meal and my burger, at $14, was not worth it. Before ordering I noticed there was a food container on the counter shaped like a convertible car, presumably for kids' meals, but my son's food wasn't served that way. When I asked the manager, he said they had run out of them. And, of course, by the time I sat down with my son he didn't want the tenders because they were not chicken nuggets (AUTISM MOM MOMENT!). Since his sister was given potato chips with her meal, he ate those instead. My veggie burger was meh. The standout, however, was the onion rings which were delicious and hot. And Panera, the reason we stopped at the mall in the first place? It was upstairs via an elevator. Oh well.
The nice thing about the food court is there is also an outdoor playground right outside the exterior entrance, and the kids had a lot of fun on that even though it was almost 100 degrees outside the day we visited. The only negative I saw with the outside play area is there is a stair which leads from the outdoor play area directly to a parking lot (outside Panera) which is definitely a hazard if a child decided to run up on a whim.
If we happen to be visiting the Trumbull area in the future, we will go back to the food court, but next time I will order from one of the healthier options on hand, and definitely order chicken nuggets (or pasta!) for our son. read more